What kind of mechanism is Google throwing away the new system FLoC that was described as 'worst' and changing the policy to 'topic API'?



The new digital advertising mechanism `` FLoC '' developed by Google that does not use

third-party cookies was heavily criticized from various places, and many companies announced that they would `` block FLoC ''. In January 2022, about two and a half years after FLoC was first proposed in 2019 , Google will not use FLoC, but will create a new advertising mechanism using what is called the `` topic API ''. announced that

Get to know the new Topics API for Privacy Sandbox
https://blog.google/products/chrome/get-know-new-topics-api-privacy-sandbox/

GitHub - jkarlin/topics: The Topics API
https://github.com/jkarlin/topics

Digital advertisements displayed on the Internet have so far used a targeting mechanism based on cookies . Google, the world's largest advertising company, was at the center of it, but with the trend of global cookie regulations, Google announced in 2020 that privacy issues were particularly pointed out, ` `Support for third-party cookies in Chrome. We will abolish it within a year .”

With the abolition of third-party cookies, Google devised a new advertising mechanism called ' Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) '. FLoC is a third-party cookie that eliminates the problem of ``tracking the behavior of individual Internet users extensively and using information such as attributes, locations, interests, and concerns for advertising'' to achieve targeting. APIs . Specifically, FLoC does not track individuals, but uses information after classifying users into ``cohorts'' with the same attributes, so Google claims that it does not violate privacy. Did.

However, as the details of FLoC were considered and tests were conducted , the problem of 'the size of the group became so small that individuals could be identified' became apparent. In fact, we know that a number of advertising companies have started attempts to identify individuals using 'FLoC'.

Attempts to identify individuals using Google's new system 'FLoC' have already started at advertising companies | GIGAZINE.BIZ



Such FLoC is often described as 'worst' , and Amazon and GitHub have announced that they will block FLoC.

Since FLoC had to proceed with development while having many problems, Google announced in June 2021 that the original goal of `` eliminating third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022 '' was changed to `` by the end of 2023. ” changed to the form . Josh Karlin, Google's privacy sandbox team and technical lead manager, said, ``It may make sense to stick to the topic. hinted at sex.

How will Google's new advertising system 'FLoC' change its policy? |GIGAZINE.BIZ



Meanwhile, on January 25, 2022, Google announced the ' Topic API ' as a mechanism to replace FLoC.

The topic API allows the browser to determine the topic of 'the biggest interest of the week' based on the browsing history. Specific topic types include 'fitness', 'travel', 'cars', 'books', 'comics/anime', etc. The browser saves topics for 3 weeks and then deletes them. This topic information is not shared with external servers such as Google, and is selected entirely on the device.

Then, when a user visits a website with the Topic API, a topic selection is made from the topics recorded in the last three weeks and shared with the website and its advertising partners. Users can add/delete topics on the browser, or even disable the feature completely, so with this mechanism, it is possible to display advertisements that are of interest to users while maintaining a high degree of transparency. ” becomes possible.



Below is a diagram showing targeting advertising using third-party cookies on the left, and a diagram of targeting advertising using topic APIs on the right. The feature of the Topic API is that it is very clear to the user how the advertisement is displayed.



The list of topics created as of January 2022 can be confirmed from the following.

topics/taxonomy_v1.md at main jkarlin/topics GitHub
https://github.com/jkarlin/topics/blob/main/taxonomy_v1.md

It has not been announced how the development and testing of the Topic API will proceed in the future, but Google announced on the timeline page of the 'Privacy Sandbox' project to create a new advertising mechanism that it will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022. It shows the goal of moving to a mechanism.

Privacy Sandbox Timeline
https://privacysandbox.com/timeline/

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